She Couldn't Accept It
by roxan1930
Summary: After fighting a difficult akuma Ladybug and Chat Noir run out of time and learn the other's identity. Only Marinette isn't exactly happy to learn how her goofball partner is actually perfect Adrien Agreste.
1. She Couldn't Accept It

**Disclaimer: I don't own Miraculous Ladybug**

 **She Couldn't Accept It**

Marinette couldn't believe her eyes.

Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste.

They had somehow both run out time while on the same roof after fighting a rather powerful akuma.

They hadn't been able to get away from each other and in flashes of pink and green light they detransformed, revealing their true selves to each other.

Now Marinette stood frozen as she looked into the green eyes of the boy she had a crush on.

"Plagg!" "Tikki!" out of the corner of her eyes she could see Tikki hugging who she guessed was Chat's - no, _Adrien's_ \- kwami happily as the tiny creatures spinned around but she didn't care about that.

She was too shocked to care.

Sweet, friendly, calm, handsome and _perfect_ Adrien was loud, reckless, flirty and goofy Chat Noir.

This wasn't right.

Those two were complete and total opposites!

She was so far in her thoughts she didn't notice that Adrien was starting to grin at her.

"Marinette... It's you. You're Ladybug." he whispered as she slowly approached her.

Automatically did she take a step back, halting him in his track.

He blinked in confusion, eyes showing hurt.

For some reason that made Marinette angry.

' _Why is he_ _acting_ _hurt while I'm the one who's supposed to feel that way!?_ ' she thought to herself.

Adrien flinched when she glared at him.

"What is the meaning of this, Adrien? Is this some kind of sick joke?" she hissed at him.

"W-what? What is supposed to be a joke here?" he asked in surprise.

"This!" Marinette yelled, wildly at him with her hands, getting only more angry.

"Where is Chat?!" she cried loudly and he jumped and took a step back.

"What do you mean? I'm right here. I am Chat Noir. You just saw me transform." he said.

"But this can't be true! You can _not_ be Chat Noir!" Marinette closed her eyes in frustration.

"And why is that?!" Adrien's voice then asked, just as loudly, catching her of guard and making her open her eyes to see him now glaring back at her.

"Why, Marinette?! Why is it so hard for you to accept I'm Chat Noir?!" he asked and this time she jumped.

She wasn't used to either her classmate or her partner getting angry at her and now it scared her.

Still, she didn't want to back down.

"Because you're nothing alike!" she answerred.

"Really now!? Then please do explain!" he challenged, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Adrien has always been perfect! You're friendly, calm, smart and patient with everyone! Chat Noir is a loud annoying goofball who makes too much puns, flirts with everyone, is reckless and loud and he's-" "Not _perfect_?" Adrien cutt Marinette's rant off, his voice cold.

"Yes! Exactly!" Marinette nodded, glad to see he understood where she was going.

She however didn't expect to find his eyes glaring at her angily, no not just angrily but he was glaring _hatefully_.

She thought handle Adrien or Chat or whoever he was getting angry at her but to have him looking at her like that was not something she could handle.

"Is that it, Marinette? Are you upset because Chat Noir isn't _perfect_ like Adrien Agreste?" the model hissed.

"Of course! Why are you acting like-" "Like it shouldn't matter to me?!" once again did he cutt her off and now Marinette took as step back as he yelled at her.

He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down before opening them again.

"It figures. You're just like everyone else." Adrien growled at her.

"Huh? What are you talking about?!" Marinette asked, not liking thw way how he put her being 'like everyone else'.

"Seriously? Well, alright then! Why don't you tell me why you think I love being Chat Noir so much?" he challenged her and raised a eyebrow with his arms crossed.

Marinette blinked in thought, having honestly never really thought about why her partner liked being his hero self.

"Well, you obviously love the attention so that must be-" "Wrong!" she jumped when his voice cutt her off again.

She glared back again.

"What do you mean 'wrong'?!" she asked as that was honestly all she could think about when thinking about how Chat always acted.

"You just said it youself! Adrien Agreste is _perfect_! Do you have any idea how that feels?" he asked.

"What's wrong with everyone finding you perfect? That means they see you as flawless." Marinette frowned, honestly not understanding what was wrong with him.

"Do you even hear yourself?!" Adrien cried out loudly, surprising her again since it had really seemed like he was starting to calm down.

"I'm not flawless, Marinette! It's all just an act!" he explained, running his hands through his hair.

"But what about-" "It's an _act_! I'm literally the face of my father's whole company! I'm not allowed to be anything _but_ perfect! I'm not allowed to make a joke, I'm not allowed to be tired, I'm not even allowed to _breath_ other then how I'm told to!" now Marinette was finally starting to understand and she felt horrible for it.

She knew he was right as there had been more then enough times when she heard him and Nino talking about how much of a slave-driver Gabriel Agreste was.

"Being Chat Noir means I get to be whoever I want! I don't have to be perfect! I'm allowed to have my own opinion, I can laugh when I want, I don't have to worry about what other people think!" Adrien went on with his rant, panting heavily when done.

"A-Adrien... I'm sorry." was the only thing the girl managed to say, trying not to whimper when he glared at her again.

"Sorry? For what?! For literally telling me to my face you're _expecting_ me to be a fake?!" he hissed and despite it being true she started to get angry again.

"Hey, you have no right to act like this! You're been doing the exact same to me or should I say _Ladybug_!" she yelled at him.

"No, I didn't!" Adrien defended.

"Yes you did! I know you always wanted _perfect_ Ladybug!" Marinette stomped her foot.

"No, I didn't! Just because _you_ expect others to live up to some fantasy doesn't mean _I_ do!" "What did you say!"

Adrien was uneffected by Marinette's anger and stood his ground.

"Unlike you I always knew Ladybug wasn't perfect. Unlike the public I've always known she's not perfect." he said calmly.

"Yeah, right." Marinette rolled her eyes, not believing him.

"Marinette, I've seen Ladybug get scared of messing up with Stoneheart, I've seen her lose her temper with civilians, I've how she often believes only herself to be right, I've even seen her _cause_ people to be akumatized, speaking of how she ignored and badmouthed Chloé, humiliated Lila and _attacked_ an innocent Santa Claus." Adrien growled and Marinette flinched again.

It was true, both as Adrien and as Chat Noir had he indeed seen her at her worst.

She started to feel horrible again.

Adrien never liked Ladybug just for her good qualities but also her bad ones.

He'd seen her at her worst and he accepted her like she was.

"Tell me, when did you ever talk to _Adrien_ without absolutely needing to or other people pushing you to?" he then asked.

"Ah! I-I was just too nervous!" Marinette stuttered as a blush.

"Nervous?" Adrien rose an eyebrow.

"Y-Yes! I was always too nervous because... Because I have a crush on you, Adrien!" she forced the confession past her lips in the 'now or never'- situation.

"A crush...?" Adrien blinked at her and she nodded.

"Yeah! I've loved you for a really long time! Ever since you gave me your umbrella! I get so nervous I could barely even talk to you without stuttering!" she tried to aproach him but this time he was the one who backed up.

"Marinette... You don't really love me." he groaned as he rubbed his forehead.

"Of course I do!" she yelled.

"No, you don't! Did you already forget what we just talked about?! You only love me because I'm _perfect_ and you don't love me as Chat Noir because then I'm not perfect! You don't really care about Adrien Agreste the person! You just care about Adrien Agreste the model who can give you anything you want and will act any way you want! If you'd actually really liked me then you'd at least would have tried to get to know me personally instead of whatever you see from a distance or read in some manazine or whatever, all without stuttering since then you'd realise I'm just another human!" Adrien yelled as Marinette stood frozen to the ground.

She felt something wet and hot run down her cheeks and realised she was crying.

Adrien realised it too and snorted.

"Forget it." he sighed as he reached into his pocket and tossed a piece of camembert at Plagg who caught it but didn't eat it right away, looking back and forth between Adrien, Marinette and Tikki as if he wasn't sure what to do.

"Plagg, would you please hurry up?" Adrien snapped, making the kwami flinch before tossing the cheese in the air and swallowing it in one big gulp.

The cat-kwami gave Tikki a quick nuzzle before Adrien stuck his fist out and yelled "Plagg, claws out!"

Plagg got sucked into the ring and in a flash of green light Adrien was replaced by Chat Noir.

He looked weird without the usual happy smile he wore when he saw her.

He didn't even say anything as he turned around to leave.

"Chat! Adrien! Please wait!" Marinette cried before he left.

Luckily for her his cat ears twitched and he stopped at the edge of the roof.

"All those times you flirted with me as Ladybug... Did you...? Did you mean it?" now was when Marinette needed to know that more then ever.

"Yes. I did mean it every time but I guess you were so dead-set on my fake self that you took me for granted while I was actually being honest." he glanced over his shoulder with cold green eyes.

"I-I'm sorry! You're right about everything! I was only thinking about myseld and what I wanted and not about how you -both as Adrien or Chat- would feel! Just please! Please give me a chance to make it up! I promise to love who you really are!" Marinette stumbled closer to the boy as her words got desperate.

Chat turned around and held up a gloved hand to stop her in her track and timidly look at her toes.

"Marinette, stop it." he told her.

"We both know you're now making a promise you can't keep. Less then an hour ago you only loved the perfect side of me and felt nothing for the side that wasn't perfect. You didn't suddenly start loving both sides of me. You're just feeling guilty because you never did and selfish because no matter what, you're still hoping it'll turn out like you always wanted." he explained and she sobbed.

Chat gave a said sigh.

"I'm sorry but being Chat is more important then anything to me and you got upset at me for that."

"And I'm sorry for that!"

"That doesn't matter. I am Chat Noir and you couldn't accept that."

He turned his back to the crying girl again.

"And that is something I can't accept."

With that he jumped off the edge and he was gone, leaving Marinette alone.

 **The End**

 **I kinda did this because while I love the usual "I'm so glad it's you because I love both sides of you"-thing, I've seen some people point out it's not always very realistic and I wanted to try to do a fic with that. Also, I honestly feel that if one of them scews it up, it's Marinette since she has a crush on Adrien for everything that makes him _perfect_ and doesn't like Chat Noir for not being like that. She's got a fantasy in her head and she doesn't even realise it herself.**


	2. Aftermath

**Hey! I've had multiple people on both Fanfiction and DeviantArt asking how it would end with the partnership and stuff after last chapter so I added another one. You may or may not like it but that's your own opinion!**

 **The Aftermath**

Marinette sighed as she walked through school.

It had been two months since she found out Adrien was Chat Noir and he found out she was Ladybug.

It had also been two months since she got upset upon finding her crush was actually the complete opposite of what she throught he was.

It had been two months since Adrien made her realize she had never been fair and only loved about him what she wanted to see and not who he really was.

It had been two months since she destroyed all the great things they had together as Ladybug and Chat Noir and what they could have had as Marinette and Adrien.

After he had left her alone that night Marinette had went home, feeling lower then ever.

Tikki had barely said anything to her, mostly calmly pointing out how it was Marinette's own fault for what happened before leaving the girl alone to cry.

The next day at school she tried to greet the model at least but he only glared and shoved past her.

Alya had seen it and had been about to run after Adrien and yell at him but Nino stopped her, dragged her off and when she returned the blogger was more upset with Marinette.

"Girl, is it true? Did you really throw a fit at Adrien because he's got a different side to him then you'd thought?" she asked and Marinette broke down.

It turned out Adrien had told Nino most of what happened between them so Marinette did the same to Alya, telling her how she got angry at Adrien for not being who she thought he was and how he had snapped about her and others expecting him to be perfect.

Alya was obviously very disappointed in her but was still enough a wonderful friend and stayed by Marinette's side.

Luckily it turned out the rest of her class got to know even less abou the situation, only learning that Marinette 'seriously hurt' Adrien.

Still, Marinette wanted nothing more then to go back in time and change how she acted.

Ever since that night Adrien refused to talk to her unless he absolutely had to and even then his words were short and cold.

As Ladybug and Chat Noir things weren't much better between them.

Marinette had been terrified about what would happen if an akuma showed up after their fight due to how Adrien obviously didn't want anything to do with her.

When three days after their fight an akuma finally appeared she was surprised when Chat Noir appeared next to her and asked her if she had a plan.

At first she thought he was warming up to her again but as the battle with the akuma went on she found she was wrong.

Chat was doing whatever she said and protected her but he was much different.

He didn't make a single pun or other joke, didn't goof around, wasn't nearly as gently with protecting her as he used to be and when she tried to offer their usual victory fist-bump be turned around and left without a single word.

It went on like that for the next few akumas until the media managed to corner him and demand to know what was going on.

He had coldly told them oud and clear "Since Ladybug made it clear to me she doesn't want me to be like I used to be, I might as well stop all of it. Ask her for more details if you must." and with that he was gone.

Right away Ladybug was the one being swarmed and she was forced to admit she hurt him by being selfish and only thinking of how she felt and left without saying anything more to keep herself from breaking down crying in front of all those people and maybe even telling them everything she did.

While the media ended up discussing what she might have done, it soon blew over.

At least, for the public but not for Ladybug.

When another akuma showed up Chat made it clear he'd work with her to protect Paris but that he'd only stay professional.

It honestly stung to know how he was now giving her what she had always wanted, right when she didn't want it anymore.

The best she got from him after a victory was a nod.

Marinette was snapped out of her thoughts when she bumped into someone.

Looking up she saw it was Fleur Bellerose, a new girl who happened to be a model who Adrien had often worked with.

She was also someone who Adrien had started dating a few days ago.

"Sorry about that! You okay?" Fleur asked as she looked Marinette up and down.

Marinette didn't want to like Fleur but she still did.

Then again, who wouldn't?

Fleur always looked lovely with large chocolate brown eyes with long, pale fair skin, long waving blonde hair reaching her waist and a figure with curves in all the right places that were shown off by her light grey skinny jeans, purple tank top and blue long-sleeved jean-jacket and brown ankle boots with a little bit of heels under them that made her a little taller.

Not only was the girl gorgeous but she was also really friendly, polite and willing to help people.

Her personality was almost the exactly as what Marinette used to think was all of Adrien except Fleur was also just as much if not more of an goofball as he turned out but she never had to hide that side of her and proudly clowned around, even called herself a weirdo.

Had the situation between herself and Adrien been different, Marinette might have hated Fleur but it wasn't and Marinette understood why the female model was an item with the male one.

She's seen how Fleur goofed around with Adrien, truelly enjoyed it when he flirted with her and encouranged him to be himself without any complaining about anything he did, all of them being things Marinette as both herself and as Ladybug had failed to do.

"Fleur!" Marinette's eyes widened when she saw Adrien running their way.

He stopped when he reached them, leaning on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

When he managed to breath normally again he looked at his girlfriend with a happy grin but it slipped when he spotted Marinette, even when she tried to smile at him.

He just raised an eyebrow at her before looking at Fleur again.

"Hey, Nino is already waiting for us. I hope you brought those cookies you promised him or else he might freak." he told her and ignoring Marinette he wrapped an arm around Fleur and started leading her away.

"Don't worry! I've brought lots of sugar, _Sugar._ "

"It's really awesome you're bringing us sweet. You really are a _sweetheart_."

"I know~ They're honey-flavored, _Honey_."

Marinette watched as the model couple walked away and upon seeing the way Adrien's eyes sparkled when looking at Fleur, she wondered if they used to do the same when he looked at her when they were Ladybug and Chat Noir but that she'd been too hung on Adrien to notice or care.

As if sensing her gaze Adrien looked over his shoulder and their eyes met.

She could see the message in his gaze.

Even if he ever managed to forgive her, he could never love her again and she understood that.

She had her chance lasting more then long enough and she threw it away.

Now she could only hope she could earn his friendship and more importantly his trust back but only time would tell.

She would just have to wait, see and let him be happy with someone else, no matter how much it hurt.

 **The End**

 **There you have it! An aftermath after last** **chapter! I hope you like it! Also, I found a site that explaining the meaning of different names in different languages and I used that to name Fleur! "Fleur" means "Flower" and "Bellerose" means "Beautiful rose" in French and I really liked putting that together to name her!**


	3. Tikki and Plagg's POV

**Tikki and Plagg's point of view from "That night"!**

 **Tikki And Plagg**

Tikki's POV

I didn't know what to do.

When Marinette and Adrien found out they were each other's partner I thought Marinette would have been estatic.

To say the way she reacted instead shocked me was an understantement.

Never had I thought Marinette would get angry at finding out her crush was Chat Noir.

And she wasn't just angry only because she hadn't figured it out but because she believed it to not be right as it went against everything about either boy what she had gotten herself to believe.

She got angry at Adrien for revealing himself to not being as perfect as she believed, not realising how much that must have hurt the boy.

Both as Adrien and as Chat Noir had he been nothing but kind and accepting towards her and seeing her doing the opposite must have been crushing.

It was no wonder he snapped.

He got angry himself and pointed out how she was being selfish by expecting him to constantly act like the image she had of him in her head, despite having flaws herself.

Marinette was crying and I wanted to at least try to comfort her but I didn't dare intervere.

Adrien had apparently had enough as he tossed Plagg some camembert to eat.

It was clear Plagg was feeling just as conflicted as I was as he looked at me and our charges, not eating his food right away for the first time in years.

Still, he did so when Adrien's anger towards Marinette was threatening to turn into annoyance towards him and swallowed it in one big bite.

Adrien turned into Chat Noir and turned to leave.

Marinette, in a desperate attempt to get him to stay promised to love him as a whole but I knew she couldn't do that.

At least not right away as love is something that takes work and she can't force herself to truely love another part of him that she never loved before.

Chat knew it too, pointed it out and left.

When he was gone I finally dared to approach the girl who was sitting on her knees crying her eyes out at what happened.

I didn't know what to say to try and comfort her so I simply nuzzled against her cheek and stayed untill she started to calm down enough to transform and get herself home safely.

When we got home Marinette curled into a tight ball on her bed and wimpered.

I stayed close by and watched over her untill she peaked at me.

"Tikki? What do I do?" she asked and as much as I wanted to give optimistic advise like I usually did, I couldn't bring myself to.

There was nothing that could be done about this, especially not something that sounded positive.

I sighed and said as calmly as I could manage "I don't know Marinette. You may have never realised it but Adrien truelly loved you for who you are and instead of doing the same you acted as if he has no right to have his own personality. You broke that boy's heart, Marinette. I honestly don't know if you can fix this."

My words send the girl into another series of sobs.

I sighed and flew to Marinette's desk to leave her alone.

I really wanted to stay by her side but I knew this was something she needed to do on her own.

Perhaps this was my fault too.

I always believed she should be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them but I was too patient with her.

I've should have tried harder to make Marinette understand that she was only putting Adrien on a pedestal and that she didn't really know him but I only ever said little things and didn't push anything.

It is true that Marinette was selfish concerning both Adrien and Chat Noir and what was happening was her own fault but I can't help but wonder if, had I been tougher on her instead of always waiting for her to figure things out on her own, maybe things could have been different and neither child would be hurting so much now.

Now all I could do was be worried if Marinette would pull herself through this, I worried how if she could still work with Chat Noir, I worried if Adrien would ever forgive her but I worried mostly if he would ever be able to forgive herself.

Plagg's POV

I rarely ever knew what was going on and I'm not ashamed to admit that.

Yet, it was pretty hard to miss what was going on right now.

Adrien ended up destransforming in front of Ladybug who did the same and turned out to be that Marinette girl that sat behind him in class.

I could practically feel happiness flow from him when he learned who his lady was.

After all, he had wanted to know for so long and he had recently grown very fond of Marinette so in his eyes she would've been perfect as Ladybug.

I didn't expect that when he tried to appraoch her, she would get mad at him.

Not just getting mad at him for getting too close but mad of who he was.

For as long as I've been with Adrien have I seen people put him down when he was happy, telling him how he was _supposed_ to behave and reject him no matter how hard he tried so I wasn't surprised when he finally snapped when the one who he thought would be the only one to truelly accept him crushed all his hopes and even dared to pretend all of it was his fault.

It turned out she was just another fangirl who only saw him from a distance or in some magazine she read and thought she actually knew everything about him.

She was even one of the very few people who Adrien had trusted to with a few details of his life and how it wasn't as great as people thought and how his father mostly expected but it would seem she just ignored all his obvious pain because they didn't fit in with what she wanted to see.

Adrien had loved Ladybug and started liking Marinette because he thought they would allow him to be who he really was without any expectations but it seemed they were the same girl who never even thought about how he would feel.

Even when she was finally starting to realise she was terrible to him, she still tried to pin blame on Adrien by telling him he did the same to her as Ladybug but he didn't let her and told her how he knew Ladybug had flaws.

It was true as he had seen her at her worst but still accepted her but it seemed the favor wasn't returned.

She flinched, obviously knowing he was right.

Adrien asked her when she ever actually really talked to his as _Adrien_ without a real reason and that was when she chose to confess her crush.

Did she seriously think admitting that was going to change the situation?

Adrien didn't accept it and pointed out how she didn't really love him but the image of him she got stuck in her head.

I didn't know weither she started crying because of how she realised she really might have never truelly loved him or just at the ways he brushed her off but then again, she did that to him a millio times without a second thought and had been way more rude.

Suddenly he tossed me my beloved camembert but for once in years I wasn't hungry.

I honestly felt I conflicted on what to do but when Adrien got annoyed to quick ate my food, not enjoying it for the first time in forever.

Even while I couldn't talk to even Adrien when transformed, I still knew what was going on.

Marinette was crying and desperate and promised to really love Adrien but luckily he knew she couldn't keep that promise.

She had just been throwing a fit that she wanted him to only be his perfect self and wouldn't just be able to suddenly love his side that she never loved before.

After pointing it out Adrien left and went home.

Ever since the reveal Adrien had only allowed some anger to show but as soon as he entered his room his sadness broke through.

With a loud cry he dropped onto his bed and started sobbing into his pillow.

I couldn't bring myself to ask for cheese.

Not while the boy who I considered my own kitten was suffering so much.

He was such a good kid who didn't deserve all the pain he always felt.

He was shut off from the world for years, lost his mother, got ignored by his father no matter what he did, barely had any real friends and to top it all off the girl who he had fallen in love with and who he thought would love him back for who he was turned out to be just another selfsish fangirl that only wanted him to be what she expected instead of who he was, completely breaking his heart.

I've always had a hard time dealing with other's emotion and so usually kept my distaince but right now I couldn't do that.

Adrien needed me right now.

With that I flew over and as gently as could managed headbutted his head.

"It's gonna be alright, kid." I whispered as I wiped one of his tears away.

He didn't answer but just cried louder and I worried.

I worried about his pain right now, I worried if this might affect his mental stability, I worried about how he was going to Chat Noir now but I worried mostly if he would ever be able to trust another girl enough to fall in love.

 **The End**

 **I honestly thought this would be like how the kwamis felt and I also added the s** **cenes** **from when the got home so everyone could see how that went.**


End file.
